PRO BASKETBALL TALK | NBC SPORTSPBT Select Team

Russell Westbrook grabs 40th triple-double, now just 1 away from tying record

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Desperately needing a victory to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Charlotte Hornets picked up one in a place they’d never won before.

Kemba Walker scored 29 points to help Charlotte overcome Russell Westbrook‘s sixth straight triple-double to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 113-101 on Sunday. It was the Hornets’ first win in Oklahoma City, a place where they’d been 0-8.

Westbrook finished with 40 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. It was Westbrook’s 40th triple-double of the season, putting him one behind Oscar Robertson’s NBA record of 41, set during the 1961-62 season. It was Westbrook’s first career triple-double against Charlotte.

Frank Kaminsky had 18 points and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 16 for Charlotte, which entered the day in 10th place in the East, two games behind Chicago, Indiana and Miami, who were tied for seventh. Charlotte has six games remaining.

“The readiness, one through 10 – every guy that played contributed,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said.

“The starters got off to a great start, which is important against a good team on the road and then the guys off the bench got the cushion there in the fourth quarter, Jeremy Lamb especially, so we got contributions from everybody.”

Walker went 6 of 12 from 3-point range. It was the 14th time this season Walker hit five or more 3-pointers in a game.

Charlotte had 18 steals against Oklahoma City, the most in a regular-season game for the Hornets since Nov. 23, 2012, against Atlanta. The Hornets scored 35 points off 24 Oklahoma City turnovers.

The Hornets “want to play in the playoffs,” Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said.

“They’re laying it on the line their last five or six games. I like playing against desperate teams, because what it does is it exposes what you have to do to really compete at that extraordinary high level.

“Give Charlotte a lot of credit. They played an exceptional game. They played really, really well all the way around. They had a lot to do with how we played.”

Charlotte seized control with a 13-0 run to open the second half, as the Thunder missed their first seven shots after halftime, allowing the Hornets to build a 72-54 lead.

Westbrook ended Oklahoma City’s scoring drought at the 6:24 mark and the Thunder closed within 12 points twice early in the fourth quarter, but Lamb, a former Thunder guard, scored nine points in a 13-4 run by Charlotte that made it 101-80 with 7:21 left.

“Coach ran a couple of plays for me and (Brian Roberts) just hit me and I was able to knock some shots down,” Lamb said. “That was a big point in the game and I was just happy to be able to knock something down and help the team.”

An 8-0 spurt by Oklahoma City, capped by a layup by Andre Roberson, got the Thunder within 102-91 with 4:37 left but a three-point play by Cody Zeller keyed Charlotte.

Oklahoma City shot out to a 13-6 lead, but the Hornets used a 28-9 run to go up 34-22 early in the second quarter. The Thunder pulled within 39-38, but Charlotte answered with a 16-4 run to build a 55-42 lead before Westbrook almost single-handedly cut the gap to 59-54 by halftime.

TIP-INS:

Hornets: Walker had four steals, moving him past 600 for his career. He’s the fourth Hornets player to reach that number, joining Muggsy Bogues, Gerald Wallace and Dell Curry. … Walker’s 229 3-pointers this season are the second-most in a single season in Charlotte franchise history. Jason Richardson had 243 in 2007-08. … Charlotte, which entered the game averaging the fewest turnovers in the NBA (11.5 per game), had 18 on Sunday. … Lamb scored 13 points against his former team.

Thunder: Taj Gibson returned to the starting lineup after missing Friday’s game against San Antonio due to illness, but scored only four points in 13 minutes. … Westbrook has 77 career triple-doubles – fifth on the NBA’s all-time list, one behind Wilt Chamberlain. … To clinch a season triple-double, Westbrook needs 11 rebounds and 29 assists over the Thunder’s final six games. … Chicago is the only team against which Westbrook hasn’t recorded a triple-double during his career.

15K FOR WESTBROOK

Westbrook passed the 15,000-point career scoring mark during the game, but shook his head when asked about that milestone afterward.

“It’s definitely something that I don’t take for granted, to be able to play this game long enough to do that is a blessing in itself,” he said.

Asked about being one triple-double away from tying Robertson, Westbrook was even more succinct: “We’ve got to win. That’s my thoughts.”

QUOTABLE:

Clifford, on defending Westbrook: “This was one of the best defensive games we’ve played in a while. I know he had 40 and we didn’t make a lot of mistakes on him. He’s just so good. … We didn’t have a lot of dumb fouls. He’s such a great shot maker. He had 40, but I felt our defense on him was good.”

UP NEXT:

Hornets: Will finish a two-game road trip at Washington on Tuesday before a potentially key home game on Wednesday against Miami.

Thunder: Will host Milwaukee on Tuesday to wrap up a three-game homestand.

Watch Austin Reaves score career-high 35, lead Lakers past Magic

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Austin Reaves scored a career-high 35 points, D’Angelo Russell added 18 points and the Los Angeles Lakers hung on for a 111-105 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday night.

Anthony Davis had 15 points and 11 rebounds on another rough shooting night, but Reaves carried the Lakers to victory with 13 points in the fourth quarter, including Los Angeles’ last 10 points over the final 1:33. The undrafted second-year pro has earned a vital role his star-studded team, and Reaves factored in almost every big play down the stretch as the Lakers snapped a two-game skid.

Lakers fans serenaded Reaves with chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!” as he repeatedly earned trips to the line in the fourth quarter. Reaves shot a career-high 18 free throws, while the Magic shot 17.

“For them to recognize what I do – obviously I’m not an MVP-caliber player, those guys are really good – but for them to do that is special,” Reaves said. “It means a lot to me.”

The Lakers entered this game off back-to-back losses to Houston and Dallas, imperiling their tenuous position in the playoff race. This win put Los Angeles (35-37) back in ninth in the Western Conference, tied with Minnesota.

“I thought it was (Reaves) being his normal self,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “What he’s been all year. Coming up in clutch moments for us, trying to make plays downhill, putting the defense in uncomfortable situations with his ability to attack the paint and draw fouls. He was great. He ended up with 35, and we needed all of them.”

Rookie Paolo Banchero scored 21 points for Orlando, but got an unwise technical foul with 25.3 seconds to play after repeatedly arguing with officials during the night.

“It just puts you in a hard situation when they’re calling it like that,” Banchero said. “You want to defend without fouling, but we keep getting called. We keep fouling, I guess. We keep getting foul calls against us, so it just makes it hard, but we still had a chance to win. You can’t blame it all on that.”

Franz Wagner also scored 21 points in the Magic’s sixth loss in eight games to wrap up a four-game road swing. Wendell Carter Jr. had 16 points and 11 rebounds, but Orlando couldn’t repeat the dominance of its 39-point fourth quarter in a victory over the Clippers one day earlier in the same arena.

“It’s difficult, because I think we’re an aggressive, attacking team,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We’ve got to just, I guess, continue to do a better job of defending without fouling, show our help early and earn the respect of being able to get those calls.”

Cole Anthony hit a tying 3-pointer with 2:37 left for the Magic, who had trailed throughout the second half. Banchero fouled Reaves on a 3-point attempt a minute later, and Reaves hit two free throws before Wagner tied it again.

But Reaves hit a mid-range jumper with 57 seconds left and then grabbed the long rebound of Wagner’s missed 3 before making two more free throws. Banchero missed a layup and got the technical foul that helped the Lakers to seal it.

The Lakers improved to 6-5 during the latest injury absence for LeBron James, who has been out for three weeks with a sore right foot. Ham reiterated before the game that Los Angeles expects James to return before the regular season ends in three weeks.

Ham on LeBron return: ‘We anticipate him coming back at some point’ during season

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The Lakers have kept their heads above water in a tight bottom half of the West, going 5-5 since LeBron James went out with a tendon issue in his foot. However, if they are going to be any kind of postseason threat, the Lakers need peak LeBron back.

With rumors swirling he might be out for a while, Lakers coach Darvin Ham gave the most concrete update yet on a LeBron return.

“At some point” is vague, but at least it means the team expects him to return.

LeBron has hinted on social media he is close to a return and will come back recharged.

In a West without a dominant team, Lakers fans — and players — can dream of a playoff run despite their 34-37 record. They looked good for the five games this team was healthy after the trade deadline, and it’s not inconceivable if the Lakers could get everyone back they could beat any team in the West in a best-of-seven. Whether a team with no margin for error (even when healthy) and health issues could string together three series wins to reach the Finals appears too big an ask, but do you think Denver/Memphis/Sacramento want to see LeBron and Anthony Davis in the first round?

Dillon Brooks, Klay Thompson beef gets fun as Grizzlies beat Warriors

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Dear basketball gods: We need another Warriors vs. Grizzlies playoff series this April. Please. (It’s lining up for a possible 2/7 or 6/3 matchup.)

Mainly because we need more of the Klay Thompson and Dillon Brooks beef, which was on full display Saturday.

The Grizzlies easily handled the Warriors — who have now lost 11 straight on the road — and Brooks was savoring the moment and talking trash, so Thompson went Kobe and reminded him about the ring count.

Brooks laughed it off after the game (hat tip Evan Barnes at the Commercial Appeal).

“He’s got four rings. That’s all he was saying. It’s motivation to us,” Brooks said. “We want a ring as well. Being able to go through the process of steps that we did last year, we keep going and learning from it all.

“It’s friendly trash talk, but I just hold a lot of real estate over there in San Francisco.”

Thompson responded:

“I don’t care about Dillon Brooks,” Thompson said. “When he retires, I don’t think anyone will ever talk about Dillon Brooks ever again. I promise you. It’s sweet right now, but wait 10 years.”

Brooks enjoys being the antagonist, particularly against the Warriors, he’s already got a beef going with Draymond Green. While Brooks can take it a little too far at points, he is at the heart of what NBC Sports’ Corey Robinson describes as the “punk rock” attitude of Memphis — which is both part of what fuels them and part of what can at times undercut their discipline.

As for the Warriors, the four in the past can’t help them this season if they can’t figure out how to win some games on the road.

Whatever the outcome, seven games between these sides is what we need this postseason.

Celtics blown lead to Jazz, plus another Embiid-fueled 76ers win, drops Celtics to third in East

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The Boston Celtics led by 19 in the first half in Utah. They led by four with 1:19 remaining. But the Celtics have played lately like a team that is comfortable — plus they miss Robert Williams III — and that led to another loss, this time 119-118 to the Jazz on the road.

This one came dramatically when Grant Williams — who was hot and hit seven 3-pointers in the game — broke off a play designed to be a dribble hand-off for Jayson Tatum and went to the rim, only to get rejected by rookie Walker Kessler.

Despite the loss, the Celtics clinched a playoff spot with the Heat’s loss to the Bulls. Utah’s Lauri Markkanen was hot and led all scorers with 28.

Earlier in the day, the 76ers had little trouble with the Pacers and picked up their eighth-straight win while Joel Embiid scored 31 points — his ninth straight game with 30+ points as he makes an MVP push.

The 76ers’ win and the Celtics’ loss moves Philadelphia percentage points ahead of Boston into the No. 2 seed in the East.

The Celtics and 76ers are destined to finish as the two and three seeds in the East, setting up a second-round clash (barring any first-round upsets). The seeding matters mostly for home court in that series and that could make a difference in what will be a physical, intense match-up that likely goes at least six games.

Meanwhile, the Bucks sit as the top seed with a two-game cushion and would love to watch the Celtics and 76ers beat each other up in the second round before having to face either.

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